A Fool's Journey
by RubyNightsGavlyn
Summary: Death was not the ending—it was merely the beginning of another journey. "With all her otherworldly memories in one small head, the Girl travels she knows not where. She is the Fool." [Semi SI/OC-Insert]
1. Arcana 0 - Beginnings

**Disclaimer: Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto. The only things I own are my OCs and I gain nothing from writing this besides the pleasure.**

* * *

**.A Fool's Journey – Arcana 0. Fool – Beginnings.**

* * *

All things must come to an end, the Girl knew this all too well.

In the dark, constricting, deafening silence, the Girl only had regrets. Her life had been filled to the brim with such promise, only to come to a swift end by unforeseen circumstances. She had left behind budding fame, knowledge and fortune. She had left behind family and friends who mourned with no chance for goodbyes; she had left them broken, held together only with sadness and grief.

The Girl wished…she could have another chance. She wanted a do-over, the chance to embark on another journey. She wanted the chance to attain the things she worked hard for. She wanted the chance to have a special someone and create a family of her own. She wanted to make sure that she wouldn't leave her loved ones broken again. She wanted to make sure that she saw her life through to the _complete_ end, nothing like the butchered end that she had been dealt.

So, when the silence was shattered by sharp screams and cries and when the squeezing darkness was pierced by light and the hands of giants, the Girl knew that her wish had been granted.

The Girl knew all too well that all things must come to an end but she also knew that at every end, there was another beginning.

* * *

_With all her otherworldly memories in one small head, the Girl travels she knows not where._

_She is The Fool._

* * *

February 5, 283.

It was ironic.

The day of his mother's funeral was the day of his daughter's birth.

Dressed in black, he sat in the white room in the hospital with bated breath as he awkwardly listened to the screams of his wife in labor. He had had conflicting feelings: he wanted to go home, to mourn for his mother's passing yet he also wanted to be by his wife's side, to see the birth of his child. He had lingered next to his wife's bed, his eyes glancing back and forth between her and the door before Biwako had shooed him away, ranting that if he had reservations, then he had no place in the delivery room.

He had merely stared at the woman before leaving without another word.

When the doors slammed behind him, once again, he wasn't quite sure what to do: head for home to mourn or remain in the hall to wait. Eventually, he wandered over to the desolate waiting area and dropped into one of the seats strewn about.

For what felt like an eternity, he sat there listening to Chiyome's anguished cries along with Biwako's stern voice, feeling completely and utterly helpless. His face tightened when he felt a familiar chakra signature approaching and he let out a soft sigh when he heard the sound of footsteps entering the area.

"Danzō?"

His head lifted, eyes meeting those of Hiruzen's. He eyed his friend's white robes, minutely noting the dissonance between their clothing as he inclined his head in greeting. "Hiruzen. What are you doing here? Don't you have work to do?"

"I've been looking for you. Chiyome is in there, yes?" He nodded towards the door as he took a seat next to him, apparently oblivious to the yelling.

He grunted out an affirmative. "Have you gone deaf, Hiruzen? Can you not hear the screaming?"

"Screaming tends to automatically become background noise the older one gets." His lips quirked up in a rueful manner. He then waved a dismissive hand. "Biwako practically tore down the door trying to get here to Chiyome when she got the news…" His slight smile fell. "I hear you were on your way home from your mother's funeral. My condolences, friend."

He nodded shortly and Hiruzen clapped a hand on his shoulder, giving it a light squeeze. "Madoka-obāsan was a sweet woman. I'm sure she is watching over you along with your father."

Again, he nodded, not quite sure what to say. Finally, he settled on a subject change. "What was it like…for you…when Taro was born?"

"Hectic." He replied immediately. "Between Biwako's volatile moods and Taro's constant crying, I felt that being stuck in my office doing mountains of paperwork was easily the lesser evil." He chuckled. "But I _can_ say that the wonder never quite fades away, even after years have passed."

He wanted to say that his wonder had long since faded away, following Chiyome's numerous miscarriages but he didn't voice his feelings. Instead, he laced his fingers together and rested his chin on them, sending a sideways glance to his childhood friend. "Is that why Biwako is pregnant _again_? Because the years_ certainly_ have passed, Hiruzen. How old are you again? Forty-one?"

The man known as the Third Hokage snorted in surprised amusement, his face coloring slightly as he scratched a cheek. "W-well, these kinds of things happen when a man loves a woman." Indignantly, he added, "And there's nothing wrong with my age! I'm still in my prime, I'll have you know!"

He snorted softly and a small smile settled over his features as he shook his head, unable to stay impassive at Hiruzen's words. He was about to give another snide comment, however, a particularly sharp scream that sounded uncannily similar to his name forced him into silence. Unable to stop his body from jolting and his expression from darkening, he rose from his seat, intent on entering the delivery room _regardless _of whether or not Biwako wanted him there.

Before he even moved, however, a firm grip landed on his shoulder. "Danzō."

He sent his friend a heated glare over his shoulder. "I'm not going to sit here twiddling my thumbs while Chiyome and my child could be dead. This is my las—"

He cut himself off abruptly, eyes narrowing even further as he slowly released the tension building in his muscles. He hadn't meant to say that much, hadn't meant to nearly blurt out his true feelings to _Hiruzen_ of all people. He _surely _wouldn't understand how he felt—not when_ his_ wife had already given him a child and was preparing to give him _another_. Shrugging off Hiruzen's grip, he adjusted his shirt and seated himself back down, making sure to send the man a glower that expressed his current feelings. Hiruzen merely breathed out a sigh, shook his head and returned to his previous seat next to him.

The waiting room again descended into silence.

He waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Until…

A shrill cry rent the air and made his ears ring painfully. A few minutes later, Biwako's head peeked out from the delivery room, a soft smile on her face as she beckoned him closer. "You can come meet her now."

His feet seemed to move on their own, drawing him towards the room where the little thing was making so much noise from. Biwako's hand tugged his sleeve, pulling him along and, before he knew it, he was standing next to Chiyome's bed. She smiled up at him with a sense of triumph and pride that was softened by the exhaustion pervading her features. He tilted his head incrementally to the side, eyes moving down to the tiny bundle that had yet to cease its—_her_, he corrected himself—wailing. He wiped a stray strand of hair from his wife's forehead before he turned back towards Biwako.

"Why is she still crying?"

Chiyome laughed quietly, rocking the girl slightly. "S-she _has_…been in a sack of l-liquid for…about nine or so months, Danzō. She's still...getting used to t-the outside w-world."

"_I _didn't cry that much when I was born."

His father and grandfather had said it indicated early discipline; they hadn't been wrong. His lips pursed as he tried to ignore Biwako's and Chiyome's giggling. "What is…her name?"

His wife's eyes glimmered wetly as her smile turned tremulous. "H-Hisoka. I d-decided on just as I held her i-in my arms. Her name will be…Hisoka Shimura."

He nodded shortly, carefully extracting the girl—_Hisoka—_from his wife's arms when she gestured him closer. The newborn squirmed in his grip and he felt awkward when Biwako took it upon herself to readjust his hold. He wanted to both shoo her away _and _thank her at the same time but he merely settled on silence as he took in the child's features.

She was tiny, seemingly smaller than most newborns though he wouldn't actually _know_ from experience. Wisps of hair were barely visible, the color difficult to make out at first but he was able to discern the color as _orange_. His lips twitched down as he cast a quick glance to Chiyome's burnt orange locks, lightened with age but still just as eye catching. Her eyes were still scrunched closed due to her _nerve grating_ shrieking but glimpses of brown irises peeked from beneath her lids.

"She is…" _not what I wanted. _"…not what I expected." He frowned, handing off the girl to Biwako's waiting arms.

The Sarutobi wife clucked her tongue as she placed the crying child into the hospital bassinet. "Babies are often not what we expect them to be. That's why such remarks should not be uttered until the child is old enough to prove themselves." She shot Danzō a certain look before giving Chiyome a comforting one. "I'm taking Hisoka to the nursery now, Chiyome. The nurses will get you situated and, if all goes well, you'll be home with your baby soon."

"T-thank you, Biwako."

Danzō took a step closer to Chiyome's bed, cupping her cheek tenderly as he tried to ignore the look of betrayal on her face.

"Excuse me, Shimura-sama. We need you to vacate the room. You'll be able to visit your wife soon."

He nodded curtly before taking a step back to allow the remaining nurses to do their job. Giving the woman one last look, he finally exited the delivery room. Hiruzen met him, a light smile on his face as he patted his friend's shoulder.

"She looks to be a strong one, friend. I'm sure she'll be able to make you proud."

In that moment, he wanted nothing more than to punch Hiruzen in the throat because he was obviously_ lying _to his face. They both knew the child didn't look strong because the only thing she had done in her first moments of life was bawl her eyes out for some inexplicable reason! He hadn't even held the little thing for that long and he could already tell she wasn't going to grow to become much! Knowing his luck, the child probably had some sort of illness or she managed to inherit Chiyome's weak constitution and immune system! Then, Hiruzen had the _nerve_ to come up to him and say such idiotic things when he had a strong son and was getting _another_ one!

He looked at the hand resting on his shoulder blankly. "Your words are _too_ kind, Hiruzen."

* * *

Being reborn was _not_ going exactly how she had hoped, i.e. _painlessly_.

When the cold, sterile air hit her wet form, something _happened_ to her new body.

She began to…_buzz_, as odd as that sounded.

It was hard to explain. Like busy bumblebees, something inside her new body hummed and thrummed constantly. Something _vibrated_ inside her veins, within her blood and throughout her limbs, coiling around her heart and pooling in her stomach. It felt like liquid heat filled all her limbs, to the tip of her tiny fingers to the tip of her tiny toes. Yet, despite the comparison, it wasn't the mysterious hot liquid that invaded her body that pained her and made her unabashedly wail at the top of her lungs—to be honest, the liquid heat in her veins merely _itched_.

No, it was _everyone else_.

Everyone else buzzed as well and it _hurt_. Too hard, too loudly, too _much_—other people had too much going on with their persons. In her mind, she wondered why people even buzzed in the first place but it was overshadowed by the fact that she seemed to be the _only_ person aware and subsequently hampered by the violent vibrations; everyone else carried on as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

But, at the same time, they _knew_ something was wrong with her.

She knew this because, following her first week at her new home, she had been taken right back to the hospital.

_Oh joy._

* * *

"C-chakra hypersensitivity? W-what does that mean?"

The Hyūga's porcelain face was marred by a soft frown as she cast a glance at the slumbering baby. "It all ties into a person's chakra sense or, simply put, the way their bodies react to chakra. Sensor-nin—I assume you know what those are?" She continued at Chiyome's hesitant nod, "Most sensor-nin have chakra _super_sensitivity, that is, a more honed chakra sense that allows them to detect and analyze chakra signatures more precisely than the average ninja." She gestured towards Hisoka. "Your daughter has _hyper_sensitivity. Hypersensitivity—in and of itself—is rare and can be detrimental for those wishing to become ninja. Usage of ninjutsu, genjutsu or _anything_ that utilizes chakra is often too painful for those with hypersensitivity to attempt."

"It's difficult to pinpoint the reason for this but, over the years, we've deduced that it's a problem with a person's _own_ chakra network and chakra coils. For this reason, one must be careful when dealing with techniques that forcibly inject foreign chakra into their system, such as medical ninjutsu or the Gentle Fist." She paused as her mouth twitched into a sympathetic grimace. "Well, they should be _more_ careful than the average ninja. At any rate, the reaction could be decidedly..._deadly_."

He frowned deeply, giving Chiyome's hand a reassuring squeeze. He mentally rolled his eyes as he gently twined his fingers with hers, to keep her from permanently damaging them with the way she was twisting her hands.

The Hyūga doctor jotted a few things down on her clipboard. "It's difficult to tell exactly how severe her sensitivity is at the moment. There is also the fact that her own chakra coils are beginning to develop, another reason for her crying spells and additional agitation."

"W-well, what can we do for her?" Chiyome asked quietly, anxiously.

The woman jotted a few things down on her clipboard. "For now, the best thing for your daughter is to isolate her—at least until she gets a bit older." The woman added quickly when seeing the deepening frown on Chiyome's face. "Try to keep as many people away from her. The first step is allowing her body to develop and adjust. We can schedule monthly check-ups to monitor her progress." She offered the couple a small smile. "Don't worry, Shimura-sama, Chiyome-san. I will do all I can to help your daughter."

"Thank you so very much, Saori-sensei." Chiyome smiled amiably as she scooped up the slumbering child, who whimpering quietly.

After a few more minutes of Chiyome and the Hyūga quietly conversing, with Danzō adding in few words, they left the hospital. Noticing the way Hisoka was about to start her fussing, he placed an arm around Chiyome's shoulders and swiftly performed the _Body Flicker._ The three of them ended up in the child's nursery.

"Only chakra sensitivity." The orange-haired woman said blissfully, obviously _still_ ignorant to what that meant for the girl's chances as a productive member of the Shimura clan. "Only chakra sensitivity. Nothing too terrible, is it, Hisoka-chan?"

The girl merely cooed and babbled in response, shifting in Chiyome's arms and Danzō couldn't help but look at the two of them in irritation and distaste.

"I have work to take care of. I assume the two of you will be fine?" He questioned.

The woman smiled at him as she seated herself down in the rocking chair next to the crib. "Don't worry about us. We'll be fine." She rocked the child, apparently falling into that blissful state women tended to get when around babies. "Just fine. Right, Hisoka-chan?"

His gaze lingered on the two of them for a moment longer before he finally let the two of them be.

He had other, much more important business to take care of.

* * *

_Hisoka_.

That was what the woman with _orange _hair had called her.

…

A new name.

A new identity.

A new life.

_Another journey._

She was happy yet she was also sad.

In gaining new life, she had lost everything else—her family, her friends, her possessions. Everything of old was gone, never to be recovered.

Only her memories of them remained.

If not for them, the Girl—no, her name was _Hisoka_ now—didn't know if she would've been able to hold on for as long as she had. The new faces of her parents and her possessions overlapped with that of her old but she never forgot them, never confused one for the other. They mingled together in her mind, flashing before her eyes like a requiem for all that she had lost and a fanfare for all that she had gained.

She was sad but she would continue to be happy. Regardless of the hardships or whatever was wrong with her new body, she _would_ be happy.

She was in another place now, with another chance to do things right.

_She was alive._

* * *

For the past several months, she'd been confined to her (admittedly comfy) house with no signs of being let out of it. Her only company had been a pretty woman with _orange_ hair, whom she quickly realized was her mother, and her primary doctor, a blind lady with dark brown hair, whom she visited once every month. She wasn't quite sure about how the woman was able to examine her without actually being able to _see_ her but she supposed stranger things had happened. Oh! There was also her stuffed toy bird, whom she'd named Ho-oh because it reminded her of something from her past.

The buzzing wasn't quite as painful any longer but that was most likely because her contact with the human race was relatively minimum. Only downside was that she was kind of bored and a little lonely.

_At least I have you, Ho-oh._ She pet the toy gently on the head before giving it a tight squeeze. _You'll keep me company._

From the clothing her mother wore and the build of their house, the Girl could tell she had landed in a sort of Asian culture. The language was the biggest indication, sounding something akin to Japanese, though, she was no near an expert in that; her knowledge was moderate but nothing special. Save for games, anime, manga and a slight interest in the mythology and history of the country, she had no idea what half of the things that came out of her mother's or her doctor's mouth meant.

Despite those things, she had seen glimpses of people wearing clothing eerily similar to those of her old homeland and it confused her a little. The architecture also wasn't completely of Japanese build, resembling things she couldn't even begin to describe. Another mind-boggling observation was that English _existed_; she had actually heard her mother speak in heavily-accented English several times in the past few months. Granted, the things she said were usually a few words blurted out in excitement, anger or shock but English existed and Hisoka knew that if she were in some feudal era, it _should not _have existed—at least she didn't think it should.

_Where am I?_

Idly, she nuzzled Ho-oh's head as the buzzing began to pick up, indicating that someone was approaching her room. Without the debilitating pain the buzzing used to give her, she noticed that each buzzing had different…_frequencies_, if that made any sense. Like her new body was a cross between a radio antenna and a tuning fork, picking up on signals and responding to the vibrations. Everyone buzzed differently and at varying frequencies; some people buzzed a little too strongly while others not so much and there were even some that lingered on the very edges of her nerves, never drawing any closer to her but never completely retreating.

With that comparison in mind, Hisoka knew the approaching buzzing wasn't her new mother. Her mother's buzzing wasn't very strong, didn't irritate her too much now that she spent so much time around the woman. Now, that she thought about it, her mother's buzzing reminded her of...Pumpkin Spice Tea, funnily enough.

It just felt like a drink but she couldn't explain _why_, though.

It was like when she tried to tell her friends about how she could taste a smell. Everyone had looked at her weirdly; she wondered if people in this world would look at her weirdly if she told them their buzzing _felt _like a taste and a smell.

She giggled a little at the thought just as the door to her room opened and she peered at the man who stood in the doorway, just staring at her. Hisoka smiled happily, carefully placed Ho-oh down and struggled to pull herself up with her crib's bars. When she was stable, she rocked back and forth, hoping that the man would realize that that she was finished with her nap time and that she wanted to be held.

He merely stared at her.

She giggled and clapped her hands.

He left the room, closing the door silently.

...

She pouted and plopped back down, picking up Ho-oh for comfort.

_That_ had been her new father.

There was...something _familiar _about him that she couldn't quite put her finger on.

He was an interesting one, though. His buzzing was practically nonexistent. It was _there_ but it was like he was somehow suppressing it, keeping it at bay and keeping it from harming her. She could tell he was handsome, once upon a time, and that he had been through many trying times, going by the large x-shaped scar on his chin, the age lines on his face and the heap of bandages covering his right eye. He didn't smile much—if at all—and often stared down at her with an inscrutable, one-eyed gaze that made her squirm, not just from discomfort.

_Apprehension_?_ Fear_? There was something, deep in the depths of her mind that called out to her in warning. The girl wasn't sure what was wrong but she knew that she didn't like it.

She wasn't very fond of his buzzing, either. It reminded her of _black coffee_. She stuck out her tongue as that ever constant buzzing made the taste surface in her mouth and she reached from her sippy cup to wash it away with juice. Her father's buzzing was _bitter_ and left a terrible aftertaste.

_How mean._ She pouted as she looked down at Ho-oh. _Why doesn't my new daddy like me, Ho-oh?_

The toy's shiny black eyes seemed to gleam in response and Hisoka could hear a tiny voice emanating from the red toy's beak. _**A child's cry is the puppet master's pulling of the strings. A parent is but a puppet who has no choice but to obey. **_

It must've been a figment of her imagination combined with some after-effects of being reincarnated along with a slight case of stir craziness but, for some reason, Hisoka found nothing out of the ordinary with a stuffed animal speaking nor did she find anything wrong with its suggestion.

In fact, it sounded like a wonderful idea to her.

So, with a trembling lower lip and tears prickling in the back of her eyes, Hisoka let out the most annoying, ear-splitting wail that she could because if her new father wouldn't pay attention to her willingly, then she would _force_ him to pay attention to her.

* * *

From the shadows, he watched Danzō-sama's shoulders tense and the brush in his hands snap in half as a piercing cry filled the air.

"Hinoe."

"Yes, Danzō-sama?"

His master leaned down, pulling out another brush before continuing with his work. "Go tend to the girl. Do whatever it takes to make sure she stops crying and _keep _her from crying until her mother returns." He paused, glancing at him over his shoulder. "That does not include harming her mentally, physically or emotionally. Go now." He waved a dismissive hand.

He disappeared in a flicker with his next objective in mind. Seconds later, he was standing before Danzō-sama's offspring, watching blankly as the child abruptly started, hiccuped and blinked up at him with wide, brown eyes.

_First objective: complete. _His head tilted slightly to the side as he watched the child pull herself into a standing position and continue to stare at him._ Proceed with secondary objective._

His fingers twitched at his sides as he thought about the optimal way to continue; he never had a mission that detailed pacifying an infant and, for a moment, he was..._unsure_ of what to do.

An image of Danzō-sama's wife surfaced into his mind. There were various ways that she dealt with the child's crying. When the girl was hungry or thirsty, she would give her a bottle, however, he could see that the girl already had juice in her crib with her, half-filled with orange juice.

The next thing she would do was...

His cheeks were burning for some reason.

He was certain it was not an enemy jutsu nor was it a genjutsu. The heat was only there when he thought about Danzō-sama's wife and offspring. Perhaps, it was a sort of fūinjutsu that Danzō-sama had placed on the child's crib to deter would-be hostile units. He had never heard of or experienced a seal that could detect _thoughts_—Danzō-sama's knowledge and abilities were far beyond that of his own.

Hinoe checked beneath the crib, felt the sides, even picked up the child and placed her on the ground against some pillows to check beneath the mattress. When he could find no trace of the seal, he concluded that Danzō-sama had programmed it to be harmless towards Root operatives, barring that burning sensation that flooded his face when his thoughts took an odd turn. He picked up the child, cradling her against his chest as he pulled off a glove.

Then he…patted her posterior. Small children did not properly know how to control their bladder so it was necessary to check their diapers. Hinoe felt his lips twitch; there was also _another _way to check a child for excrement, however…that would require the removal of his mask. Only under a specific set of circumstances were they allowed to remove their masks. This did not seem like one of those circumstances.

_The child is not crying. _He noted as he stared at the child, whom stared back at him owlishly. _She is not wet nor should she be hungry._

He placed her back in the crib. Again, his fingers twitched at his sides as he tried to figure the best way to approach his mission. Danzō-sama had told him to make sure that she didn't cry anymore until his wife returned. She was out shopping for groceries, however, it was common knowledge that she took her time and, therefore, took longer than what was expected for simple domestic trips.

He watched the child pick up her stuffed toy and cup and hug them to her chest before holding out her free arm towards him. Automatically, his hands slid under her arms and he was once again cradling her to his chest. She pointed a tiny finger towards some of the toys scattered on the ground and he could assume that the child wanted to play with them. He crouched down before arranging himself on the ground, with Danzō-sama's offspring in his lap.

After carefully setting down her things—or as carefully as a small child with minimal control over their motor functions could—she clapped her hands together before reaching towards a stack of card, large eyes looking back up at him in expectation. Hinoe picked one up, examining it idly. A flash card for numbers. He glanced down at the child, who beamed up at him.

Understanding what she wanted, he displayed the card while holding up one finger. "One."

She giggled, holding up one tiny finger. Noises emerged from her mouth as she tried to mimic his words, though, the girl ended up coming short. Again, he repeated the number, waiting a few more seconds before going to the next card.

The rest of the hour spent as such.

* * *

Hisoka giggled as she hugged the masked man tightly as he placed her back in her crib. Logically, she should've been scared and wary of the unknown person suddenly appearing in her room but she just assumed that if he wanted to kill her or kidnap her, he would have already done it by now. Instead, the masked one had checked if she was wet (she giggled inwardly at that) and showed her flash cards when she asked him to. She could even feel hesitance and nervousness in the person's buzzing so she _highly _doubted his aim was to harm her.

Besides, his buzzing reminded her of…lavender fabric softener—the kind that made you sniff your own clothes when you thought no one was looking. Surely, no one with buzzing like that could be a danger to her.

But… there was something about their clothing that was familiar. It was like with her new father—something about them made apprehension and nervousness seep into her mind. Something in her mind told her that she had seen the odd mask and weird armor but... she just couldn't put her finger on it.

She squeaked when her new friend disappeared into thin air and her mother peeked her head into the room a few seconds after. The woman entered fully, holding up a cute dress that was obviously meant for her but Hisoka couldn't help but rub her eyes furiously in disbelief.

The masked man just _disappeared_! Had she been imaging him the _whole _time!? Had it all been a figment of her imagination that a masked person had picked her up, checked if she was wet and showed her how to pronounce numbers for the past hour!? Speaking of which, how had the man even _entered _in the first place!? Hisoka was sure that he didn't come through her door nor did she feel his buzzing approaching!

He had just _appeared_ out of no where!

She looked down at Ho-oh, waiting for the toy bird to speak, just as it had done earlier because _surely_ Ho-oh would have something to say about this.

It remained silent.

…

Hisoka decided not to question it anymore, lest she found herself having a mental breakdown.

* * *

**.**

* * *

**EDIT 19/07/2015: Changed the spelling and edited some grammar. Changed the origin of Hisoka's name.  
**


	2. Arcana 0 - Spontaneous

**.A Fool's Journey – Arcana 0. Fool – Spontaneous.**

* * *

She remembered that her mother—her _other_ mother—had once told her that she'd be an adult once in her life and a child twice.

She doubted her mother had meant that _literally_.

"Eat up, my little tangerine." The new mother cooed as she placed a spoonful of food near her mouth. "Eat up all your food and grow to be beautiful and healthy."

She laughed and slapped her hands against the table attached to her high chair before accepting the goop her mother was feeding her. Surprisingly, she wasn't disgusted at eating baby food—her new mother was good about getting flavors that she didn't mind eating. Plus, she remembered that her previous father was a bit..._weird_ and had fed her and her brother some apricot-flavored baby food.

_When they were seventeen._

Of course, he didn't actually tell them that until _after_ they ate it but the point still stood.

So, she was a bit accustomed to eating baby food and wasn't the least bit worried about eating it.

If she were being honest, Hisoka didn't mind eating baby food as long as she didn't have to do things for herself. As good as her other life had been, she wouldn't hesitate to admit that she had plenty of days where she was completely drained of energy and stressed out of her mind. To be able to sit around, play with toys and look cute was something she didn't think she'd be able to do—but she was _indeed_ going to milk it for all it was worth.

"Open up, Hisoka-chan~!"

Hisoka merely giggled again, finding it funny that she had managed to get food on her bib.

She was such a messy eater.

* * *

"She's doing quite well." Chiyome said softly, running a brush through her hair as he entered their room. "Hisoka, that is. Though, I'm sure you don't really care."

He cocked an eyebrow at the woman before easing himself down onto the bed. He could see her from the corner of his eye, giving him that look she had given him those months back in the delivery room. A sigh blew past his lips as he looked at her through narrowed eyes, something scathing burning on his lips but refusing to be said.

"...What are you talking about, Chiyome?"

She slammed her brush down but her face remained impassive. "Don't play ignorant, Danzō." Her expression melted into sadness. "You're not happy. With Hisoka."

His eyes narrowed a bit more, willing the woman to shut her mouth because he _really _didn't feel like talking about the child when he had other things to worry about, such as Hiruzen's inability to make sound decisions in regards to their village and the war with Sunagakure and Iwagakure.

Unfortunately for him, Chiyome wasn't one to take a hint.

She continued, "You never spend time with her. Ever. You never play with her or hold her. I don't think she even knows you're her _father_, Danzō."

"You know I'm not good with children."

She shot him a flat look. "Or is it that you're not good with children that you don't _want_?" She looked away from him, messing with something on her vanity. "I just want you to spend a little time with your daughter. Not even with me, just Hisoka."

"Chiyome." He started firmly but stopped, shaking his head slightly. "We've been over this numerous times—my duty to Konoha comes first and first _only_. There are no exceptions. When I have some free time, it will be dedicated to you and to her."

She grew silent at that but he could feel her stare attempting to burn a hole through the side of his head. After all the years they had been married, Danzō knew that when Chiyome was quiet, it meant that she was about to say something that would ultimately _piss him off_ but still cause him to do just as she wanted. It never failed, either; somehow, the woman knew just what to say to manipulate him and _force_ him to do as she pleased.

"You know, I think it's very sad that Hiruzen—the _Hokage_—is able to find time for _his_ family and yet you can't."

Today was no different.

He could only glare at the woman's poorly hidden smirk.

It hurt his pride and embarrassed him that a mere _woman _had such a powerful hold on him.

_Such is marriage_. He thought bitterly. _Such is marriage._

* * *

He stared down at the little orange-haired girl in his lap blankly.

His operative Hinoe had mentioned that the girl had an interest in learning, however, she showed no such inclinations in his presence. He wouldn't have minded teaching the girl numbers or words; he would've been satisfied with _anything_ that meant that he wasn't just wasting his time. Instead, the girl had merely chewed on his sleeves, played with that tacky bird doll, giggled randomly, attempted to touch the bandages covering his eye and tried to..._kiss_ the scar on his chin.

He grumbled under his breath as he stiffly adjusted the small child in his arms, frowning down at her as he held her up to eye-level. Her brown eyes blinked at him innocently, hands clutching towards his face. Danzō leaned his face away from the girl's grubby little hands.

He wondered if his mother would've liked this child. She hadn't been fond of Chiyome. Many a times she had called Chiyome spoiled, pampered, ignorant and weak. He hadn't really noticed those traits in his youth nor had he really cared back then—an arranged marriage was merely a way to strengthen his clan and, by extension, the village. An alliance with the well-known nomadic merchant clan that had close connections to the predominantly unknown western lands would've been a boon for the then-fledgling Konohagakure.

He had been chosen because Chiyome was infatuated with him, outright refusing audiences with other potential suitors—even men from the Senju clan—and, because she was the leader's only daughter, she ultimately ended up getting her way. He had been honored that he alone was able to benefit Konoha in such a powerful way and, with a wife, he would've been able to help restore his clan's dwindling numbers.

But...

"Things...did not go as planned." His eyes narrowed at the girl. "This is not what I wanted."

Almost as if sensing the regret oozing from his being, the girl's eyes filled with tears and her mouth opened to release a pitiful wail.

Danzō could only roll his eyes.

* * *

Her new daddy didn't like her.

He buzzed with what could only be described as disappointment towards her and she wasn't quite sure why. She was sure she hadn't done anything to make the man feel such emotions towards her; she only tried to show him affection and yet, for some reason, she could tell this only served to push her farther away from the man who was her new father.

She could sense emotions but she wasn't able to read thoughts; her father's thoughts in particular were carefully hidden behind an inscrutable gaze and bitter, coffee-flavored buzzing.

_Well, forget him then!_ She pouted as she pet Ho-oh's head. _If he wants something from me, he'll have to tell me himself!_

* * *

The day Hisoka spoke her first words was the first day she left her house _not _to visit her blind doctor, whom she'd come to know as Saori-sensei.

She had been alive for what she assumed was about seven or eight months now. Child development wasn't one of her majors but Hisoka liked to think she was pretty advanced for her age—she had complete control of her motor functions, she could sit up and crawl by herself and she was well on her way to walking. She even knew several words, including numbers, colors and the seasons, though she hadn't actually gotten around to _saying _them just yet; she was waiting for her first birthday to come around to dazzle her parents.

Then, _surely_, her father would come to love and adore her.

"Danzō, Biwako just had her son. Do you think you could take me and Hisoka-chan to see her?" Her mother smiled sweetly at her father, making sure to bat her eyelashes.

"What did the doctor say?" Her father's deep baritone questioned, eyes not moving from whatever it was he was working.

Her mother readjusted her hold on her body, gently smoothing down some of Hisoka's hair. "Saori-sensei said Hisoka-chan was doing quite well for a girl her age." Her mother tickled her stomach lightly, gaining a bright smile from her. "She said that, at the rate Hisoka-chan's going, she should be able go outside for extended periods of time with no problems."

"Is that right?" Her father looked up at them with a cocked eyebrow.

"Yes."

"Are you lying?"

"What!? No!" She watched her mother pout. "Why would I lie about my daughter's health?"

Her father stood from his desk and moved around it quietly, coming to stand in front of her and her mother. Hisoka watched her mother smile innocently and, wanting to help the woman out, she sent her father a beaming smile. Before their combined might, her father quickly broke down.

"Fine."

Her father's buzzing _flared _and then...

Hisoka nearly dropped Ho-oh onto the ground in astonishment when she realized they were no longer in her father's study. Instead, they were outside, standing before a large, circular building with red trimmings. How had they gotten there so _fast_ and without her noticing!? Had they _teleported _there? No one besides herself was shocked about the instantaneous transportation so, from that, she could assume that such occurrences were normal for the people of wherever she had ended up.

Her eyes went back to the tall building before them. Despite the fact that Hisoka was abso-tively, posi-lutely one-hundred percent sure that she had _never _left her family home, she felt a sense of déjà vu when looking at the building—the same as when she looked at her father and the mysterious masked man that taught her numbers.

_Something strange is going on here, Ho-oh._ Her large eyes narrowed suspiciously as she clutched the toy to her chest. _But I can't figure out what it is._

_**On a page, on a screen, you've seen these same scenes.**_

Hisoka's eyes darted down to Ho-oh, completely perplexed that the stuffed toy had once again spoken with her after such a long while. There was _definitely _something going on but she wasn't able to think about it, for a _very large and very strong_ buzzing began to emerge from the residence. Fighting down the urge to cry and fidget, she watched as the door opened and a man stepped into the cool, autumn afternoon. The orange-haired girl felt her eyes narrow even more as she took in the man's white and red robes and his hat, finding his attire strange but, _of course_, familiar.

She pursed her lips as a vague scent filled nose. This man's buzzing smelled like...nature, like leaves and freshly-mowed grass.

The man placed a hand on her father's shoulder and nodded towards her mother. "Danzō. Chiyome." He smiled down at Hisoka, gently patting her head. "As well as your daughter. Hisoka, was it?"

Her mother smiled and bowed slightly. "It's a pleasure to see you again, Hiruzen. I heard that Biwako was back at home and I wanted to see how she and the baby was doing."

"The both of them are inside. Go on in." He gestured back towards the building. "She'll be happy to see you, Chiyome."

Again, her mother bowed before leaving the white-robed man and her father behind. A surge of emotion swelled from both the men, causing Hisoka to look over her mother's shoulder at the figures. They stood side by side, with expressions that told nothing of their true feelings but Hisoka could easily sense the _tension _and the way their buzzings almost _clashed_ against each other. For some strange reason, if she squinted her eyes and tilted her head a certain way, it was like she could see this _darkness_ hanging over her father's head while the sunlight seemed to grow _stronger_ where the robed man stood.

She rubbed her eyes with a sleeve as she tried to will away the peculiar image from her mind. Though she could still feel their violent buzzings on the edges of her nerves, Hisoka was glad that she and her mother weren't in the same vicinity as the two men. Deciding it was better to just _forget _about the two men and whatever qualm they had with each other, she plastered a happy smile on her face as she and her mother reached their destination.

"Chiyome!" A woman with brown hair bound into a ponytail exclaimed happily. "And you've brought your adorable daughter!"

Sweet potato pie... This woman's buzzing was like sweet potato pie. A hint of vanilla and cinnamon... Hisoka wiped at her drooling mouth with a sleeve.

Oh, how she missed the delicacies of her former home.

"I thought Hisoka-chan deserved some time out of her room." Her mother said, nuzzling the top of her head. "And I wanted to see your little boy!"

"Asuma." The woman smiled tenderly as she gestured for her mother to follow. "We decided to name him Asuma."

The brown-haired woman led to a room that Hisoka could swiftly call a nursery. The color scheme was predominately navy blue with lighter blues as accents, indicating that it belonged to a little boy. Her mother quickly made her way over to the crib, making quiet squealing noises as she and the woman—the presumed mother—admired the sleeping child. Leaning forward a little, the orange-haired girl pouted because she couldn't see what was so great about the kid; he was wrinkly, bald and ugly, not yet having grown into his looks. She rolled her eyes before letting them wander around…until something caught her attention.

Outside, in the distance, she could see it.

A mountain with three faces carved into it. Strange. It reminded her of a monument from her other world. Her head tilted to the side when she noticed that one of the faces looked eerily similar to the man that reminded her of mowed grass.

_**...aces of lea...**_

Something was tingling in the back of mind.

A memory was resurfacing...but Hisoka couldn't seem to grasp it.

Her eyes closed in concentration, drowning out the voices of her mother and the other woman. She could hear it if she strained hard enough, listened to nothing but that voice whispering in the depths of her mind.

_**...Faces of leaders past carved into a stone that overlooks the village...**_

She knew that voice. It was the same voice that emerged from Ho-oh's beak but...at the same time, she knew that it _wasn't_ Ho-oh's voice.

_**...Forever, they watch over the budding sprouts in a silent vigil...**_

...

Then, like a light switch flipping on, she had it. And Hisoka could do nothing to stop the words that tumbled from her mouth.

In _English_, no less.

"Hokage!?_ Naruto_!? _HOW_!? HOW DID THIS HAPPEN!? WHY DID THIS HAPPEN TO ME!? AH, FIDDLESTICKS AND CRACKERJACKS! "

As soon as the words left her lips, a shrill crying filled the room. She hunched her shoulders at the rebuking look the women gave her.

"S-sorry, Momma." She apologized, instinctively switching back to Japanese with a nervous little smile, using her stuffed friend to obscure a portion of heated face from the two women.

The brown-haired woman huffed as she scooped up the wailing infant and did her best to shush his cries. Several seconds later, the magnitude of the situation must've dawned on them as both women snapped their heads towards her in shock.

"Hisoka-chan!?" Her mother's voice went up an octave. "Did you just talk!?"

"Was that... Was that _ENGLISH_!?" The other woman squeaked out.

Hesitantly, she nodded, unsure of how to respond. Using more words would only serve to break the two mothers even further and that was something Hisoka wasn't intent on doing. Instead, she just fidgeted with one of Ho-oh's little wings, glancing up through her eyelashes every few seconds as their heavy stares weighed down on her.

Finally, after regaining some of her senses, Hisoka's mother blurted out one thing and one thing only.

"DANZŌ!"

* * *

"The gir—_Hisoka_—spoke?"

"Yes! Yes! She said my name! A-and she even spoke in English, Danzō! _English_!"

His lips twitched slightly as looked down at the girl playing with her toy. He couldn't believe it, not when the girl had shown no such skills only a few weeks ago in his presence. He crossed his arms over his chest as his gaze went back to Chiyome.

"And you're _sure _of this?"

"_Yes_! And I have Biwako as a witness!"

Once again, he looked back down at the child, this time finding her gaze on his face. Slowly, he crouched down next to the child, meeting her wide stare with narrowed eyes.

"Hisoka. What is my name?"

A pregnant pause filled the room as her head tilted to the side before she went back to toying with that stuffed animal. He snorted as he stood to his feet, shaking his head slightly as he looked towards the pouting Chiyome. Unimpressed and irritated, he made his way to exit, intent on finishing some business that he had.

"Danzō."

He stopped abruptly, gaze going over his shoulder to stare at the child.

"Danzō Shimura."

...

Had he been a different person, the shock that bubbled in his chest would've shown on his face. Not because the small child had spoken or even because she knew who he was. The way the child had _said_ his name; her tiny voice had been filled with such _seriousness _and _dourness _that it had taken him aback. She had said his name _clearly_ with no hesitation or mistakes—a feat that was extremely rare for a child that was only eight or nine months old. And, if Chiyome _wasn't_ lying and the girl _had_ spoken in English, a language that practically exclusive to the western land and took years for even the most intelligent, prodigious individuals to master, then...

After a short moment of silence, the girl's little hands clapped together and she squealed out, "Papa!"

Chiyome's cheeks flushed as she scooped up the child, tickling her stomach and cooing over the girl, ignoring the small girl's previous oddness. With a shake of his head and a quiet, irritated sigh, Danzō took it upon himself to leave while they were distracted. Once he was far enough, he spoke into the darkness of their home's hallway.

"Hinoe."

A masked figure loomed from a dark corner, falling to a knee before him. "Yes, Danzō-sama?"

"Keep an eye on Hisoka. Tell me of any abnormalities in regards to her development." He paused. "Do not let Chiyome see you."

His operative faded back into the shadows without another word. Danzō would not make any decisions regarding the girl's abilities and intelligence until he had undeniable proof.

He _refused _to get his hopes up.

* * *

**.**

* * *

**A/N: **I finally updated this story after ages. I basically rewrote the first chapter, borrowing the chakra hypersensitivity concept from the awesome story that we all know and love, _Dreaming of Sunshine, _and another SI called _Mind the Gap_ by Sage Thrasher. Writing Danzō was something of a challenge but I hope he'll come out to be something akin to canon.

As for the existence of English in the _Naruto _world, blame Killer B. If I recall correctly, there are instances when he says words in English like, _"Baby~!"_ when he's rapping and I was like, _"How come no one mentions this!?"_ I think English does exist but it's isolated from the Elemental Nations with less than 1% of the population being able to speak it fluently. Eh. Tell me what you think.

Also tell me how you want Hisoka to develop as a ninja. It should be obvious that she's a sensor but what else would you like to see? A kekkei genkai? Some kind of specialization? I love hearing your suggestions~! Oh yeah. Suggest flavors and smells for the characters. As you can tell from the story, Hisoka associates different "buzzing" with scents and tastes. Danzō is black coffee; Chiyome, her mother, is pumpkin spice tea; Hinoe is lavender fabric softener; Biwako is sweet potato pie and Hiruzen is mowed grass. I haven't thought of one for Asuma yet.

One last thing, don't worry about Ho-oh being a missing portion of her spirit or some crap like that. It's not as extravagant or important as you might think but it'll be revealed soon :)

I think that's it. Thanks for the reviews, favorites and follows, guys. I just eat them up~!

**EDIT 04/08/2015: Edited grammar. Added some sentences for clarification. Added more to Hisoka's string of Japanese.**


	3. Arcana 0 - Faith and Folly

**.A Fool's Journey – Arcana 0. Fool – Faith and Folly.**

* * *

Of all the places to be reborn, it had to be in _that_ world.

Hisoka found herself temporarily shocked into silence for two days but then she remembered that she had been thrust into the world via _reincarnation_. Then, her mind was plagued by vague memories of this obscure theory called _fictional realism _that tied in with multiverses and Hisoka decided it was easier to just go with the flow and stop thinking so hard about things that were most likely _never_ going to be explained her.

She had more pressing matters to deal with, such as that she was the only child of _THE_ Danzō Shimura, a man of infamy and the sole reason for many of the tragedies that befell the world as a whole—or at least the nation that she lived in. He was amoral, selfish, petty, self-righteous, treacherous _and _a hypocrite and, for those reasons, Hisoka should've been disgusted the _she_ was the one to be born from such an individual.

And, yet, she _wasn't_.

Hisoka knew these things about Danzō but she couldn't find it in herself to _hate_ him for one reason: Danzō Shimura was a man and Man was flawed.

Deep down in his blackened and cold heart, Danzō had meant well for his home and the people within it. It had been distorted by years of war and loss, along with jealousy and ambition but the reason was there and Hisoka desperately clung to it as an explanation, as a justification for his actions—and for her feelings towards him.

Despite all that Danzō had done, Hisoka believed he could be rescued from that dark pool he resided in. She believed in redemption, believed that a person could be made anew; all a person needed was the right catalyst. Danzō _couldn't_ have been any different, regardless of the damage he had wrought. Hisoka could see flashes of a white-haired, bespectacled boy and a golden-eyed snake getting another chance so what made her father any different, any less deserving of another chance?

It was with those thoughts—along with the lavender-scented buzzing in the corner of her room—that lulled Hisoka into a deep sleep.

* * *

He was watching her again, the masked man that buzzed of lavender fabric softener.

Her tiny fingers clung to the worn couch in their living room as she used it as an anchor to keep herself from toppling over due to the abrupt spike of buzzing—or was it _chakra_—that suddenly appeared in a dark corner of the room. She blinked owlishly as she stared in the area she _knew_ he resided in, momentarily baffled by the man's appearance before she went back to her task of gaining a more advanced mobility.

Since the day that she yelled out her first words, she had gained a new follower in the form of Lavender-scented Fabric Softener Masked Man (or LFSMM, for short). Hisoka didn't doubt that it was because of her father and the whole speaking-in-English-thing; it seemed that she finally had her father's attention but not exactly in the way that she wanted.

From her fragmented memories, she recalled that her father had an interest in children that were considered prodigies. Then again, he wasn't the only one—it seemed that natural talent played a very large part in this world's perception of worth. Perhaps that was why her father had buzzed with disappointment all those months ago—because she wasn't doing flips and handstands before the age of one.

Hisoka snorted softly as she hesitantly let go of her cushiony anchor, letting herself wobble precariously as she took a small step forth.

And another.

And…one more—

"_Ahn_~! My little tangerine is _walking_!"

—before her mother's loud squeal shocked the balance from her and sent her careening forth and face-first onto their wooden floor.

…Or, at least, that was what she _expected _to happen.

Instead, she felt LFSMM's buzzing—_chakra_—jolt and something gently pushing her back, changing the path her body was going completely in a span less than one _millisecond_. Hisoka squeaked softly as her butt hit the hard floor and, moments later, her body was hoisted into her mother's arms, the woman kissing away her non-existent tears.

"My poor little baby! Momma's _so sorry _she scared you!" Her mother rubbed their cheeks together. "But you walked! Momma's so _proud_ of you~!"

Hisoka absently patted the woman's cheek but her attention was fastened on the buzzing that had once again taken place back into one of the room's dark corners.

* * *

"I heard from Biwako that your daughter has started walking, Danzō." Hiruzen said conversationally over his plate of fish balls. "Congratulations."

He snorted, taking care not to spill his genmaicha. "For what? Learning how to perform a motor function necessary for proper development?"

Hiruzen chuckled lowly, shaking his head. "You're a _father_ now, friend. Being proud of your child is nothing to be ashamed of."

"Oh, is that right? So, you mean you were _proud_ when Taro urinated in public during _hanami_ when he was six?" He asked with faux curiosity, calmly taking a bite of his meal.

The Sarutobi man chocked on a piece of food in his mouth, causing a few other patrons to look in their direction inquisitively. Danzō did nothing to hide his sardonic smirk as Hiruzen struggled to catch his breath nor did he hide his smirk when Hiruzen sent a vicious, teary glare in his direction. After a few more coughs and a server fetching a glass of water for him, the Third Hokage sent him a disapproving frown.

"That…was not fair, Danzō." He muttered, disgruntled.

Danzō merely shrugged and sipped more of his tea.

* * *

Should she? Or should she not?

Hisoka was faced with a dilemma.

Being reborn into the _Naruto_ world wasn't something to jump for joy about but there were many things that she wanted to experiment with, namely _chakra_. Her memories showed her images of flashy explosions, fast-paced fights and superhuman feats—Hisoka had been a _huge_ fan of shōnen manga and fighting and RPG games in her other world and she knew that in _Naruto_, the main reason all those awesome things were possible was because of chakra. If she could use chakra, _she_ could start doing awesome stuff that would prevent her from being bored out of her mind.

However, Danzō was her father and he had someone _watching _her.

It seemed as if LFSMM didn't sleep or eat _or _take bathroom breaks because his fragrant buzzing was _always_ present in a corner of any given room she was occupying at any given time. Hisoka was sure that the reason she was under such scrutiny was because her father wanted some kind of confirmation about her potentially being a genius. The orange-haired girl wasn't too keen on that because she wasn't quite _ready_ to stop being a pampered little girl just yet and she was _sure _that if her father caught wind of her advanced awareness and experimentation with chakra, her days of lazing around and being cute were going to be through.

_**A baby you are not with the rate you are growing. **_The whisper emerged from Ho-oh's beak—or the back of her mind; Hisoka couldn't really tell. _**Your secret will be ousted with the knowledge you are showing.**_

Hisoka pursed her lips together as she glared down at the stuffed bird. _No rapping or rhyming, Ho-oh._

The bird did not respond.

She heaved out a sigh, tossing the bird out of her crib, ignoring the way LFSMM's chakra jumped ever so slightly in response. As much as she didn't want to admit it, the red bird was right; it wasn't even her first birthday—it was in a couple of weeks, though—and she was already pretty much walking, talking and beginning to learn hiragana and katakana with her mother.

Again, she wasn't sure about child development but she sure _felt_ like she was doing some of this stuff early.

Hisoka wasn't quite sure if it was because of chakra strengthening her body, her matured mind allowing her to pick up and process concepts faster or a combination of the two but there was something about this body that was _different_. Hiding the fact that she was smarter than the average infant was something Hisoka was having trouble keeping under wraps, mostly because of her own excitement and boredom getting the best of her.

She was already in a metaphorical wooden coffin and using chakra would hammer the last nail in. _But _not using chakra was only delaying the inevitable, really. Eventually, she'd _have _to use chakra; Danzō was a part of a ninja clan and it didn't take much thought to know that she was expected to follow the same path.

_So should I? _Hisoka tugged on some of her hair as she glared at the dark corner LFSMM was hiding, blaming the masked man for putting her in such a situation. _Or should I not mess around with chakra?_

* * *

"I believe she is a sensor-type, Danzō-sama."

"And?" He cocked an eyebrow. "What of it?"

"Your offspri—"

"Just call her Hisoka." The man sighed.

"…Yes. Hisoka-hime is always aware of my position, even when I am suppressing my chakra or am hidden from sight."

"Well, of course. She is hypersensitive to chakra signatures." He waved a dismissive hand. "I would be surprised if she _didn't_ know where you were at all times."

Hinoe grew silent at that and Danzō couldn't help but grumble out softly. Perhaps, he should've clarified that _before_ giving the young operative the task of observing the girl. Too late, now. "I'd be more impressed with how she would react with multiple people in one enclosed vicinity." He rubbed his chin idly. "She responded adequately to Hiruzen's chakra and his chakra is impressive…"

And "impressive" was putting it _lightly_.

"If she can handle Hiruzen's chakra with only a grimace then…" He trailed off.

"Hisoka-hime's birthday is in a few days, Danzō-sama." Hinoe suggested—unnecessarily, might he add. "Perhaps, holding a proper celebration would provide the results you desire?"

He rolled his eyes at the suggestion but only because Chiyome had spent an entire _three_ days begging him to allow for a celebration—mostly because she wanted to show off—and Danzō had finally been able to nip her hopes in the bud for what felt like the first time in…_years_!

He loathed to see that smug look on Chiyome's face at his sudden change of heart but he _needed_ confirmation of his suspicions about Hisoka. The last thing he wanted to do was train the girl, find out she was _weak_ and be stuck with a failure of a daughter that would inherit the position of Shimura Clan Head. His name would go down in history as an embarrassment of a father and, when he'd finally die, he would meet his parents and grandparents in the afterlife and they'd look at him with such shame that he'd _die_ all over again.

He grit his teeth in irritation as he waved away Hinoe. "Yes, yes. I will have to think on it. Return to your post, Hinoe."

"Yes, Danzō-sama."

He watched the young man disappear from sight before he let out a lengthy, heavy sigh; he needed time to swallow his pride and digest his dignity before confronting his wife.

* * *

"Stop your pouting, woman." He said curtly, not even bothering to elaborate.

Immediately, her face brightened. "Does that mean—"

He waved a hand, rolling his eyes with the action. "_Yes_."

Chiyome squealed, throwing her arms around his neck and nuzzling her cheek against his. He grumbled softly, reluctantly wrapping an arm around her waist to appease the woman; she was a bit too touchy-feely—something Hisoka seemed to have inherited from her—and she wouldn't let go until he hugged her back. He glared sharply at the wall before he saw a small head of orange in the doorway of his office. _Of course_, the little thing would show up when he was in an _intimate_ embrace with Chiyome and—

_Is she… Is she smirking?_ Danzō's eyes narrowed at the girl, gently pushing Chiyome away from his form. _Surely, she doesn't know…_

"Thank you so much, _darling_!" He pursed his lips at the name. Chiyome turned towards the door, jolting happily at the sight of her daughter. "Hisoka-chan~! Your first _birthday _is coming up! Aren't you excited!?"

The child clapped her hands together, swaying a little as she chirped out, "Cake~! P'esents~!"

"Presents." He corrected but the two females ignored him, too busy gushing and squealing together.

He sighed deeply, grumbling lowly under his breath as he seated himself back at his desk. He glared at the women as he leaned back in his seat. _I just can't win against you, can I?_

"No, you can't~!" Chiyome sung as she scooped up Hisoka and practically danced out of his office.

He rubbed his temples, feeling a migraine building.

* * *

_See, Danzō—Papa—can't be all bad. _Hisoka happily grinned as her mother held up a dress. _He loves Momma._

She completely blocked out the pinched, strained expression on his face and the way his buzzing shook with irritation and discomfort. Hisoka only saw the action, the way her mother and father were all hugged up together and _happy_. The cute sight made her tingle and giggle to herself, giddy with excitement and hope.

_Papa is worth saving. _

_He has to be._

* * *

Her first birthday was a moderate celebration, comprised mostly adults with few children. She recognized only four people—the man in white and red robes, the Third Hokage, and the woman that buzzed of sweet potato pie, Biwako. They brought along their children, Taro and Asuma; Hisoka could remember that the latter was a major supporting character but she didn't think the former had all that much importance.

Hisoka felt it weird that she was actually _older_ than a canon character, like there was some unspoken law that it wasn't allowed. She giggled a little as she pulled back from leaning over Biwako's shoulder—Asuma wasn't as ugly, wrinkly or bald any longer—to ease herself from the couch and toddle out into their backyard where the older kids were playing, away from being too close to all the buzzing that made it hard for her to concentrate.

There were four of them, all of them with buzzing—_chakra_—bigger than her mother's. Using that, she could assume all four children were from ninja clans, unlike her mother, who was _obviously_ not of shinobi lineage. Taro's clan was easy to guess, considering who his father was, and there was a chubby girl that Hisoka could probably guess what clan she hailed from. The last two—a boy and a girl—had dark hair and, on their shirts, was a symbol that she sometimes saw on the clothes her father wore. A clan crest, her mind supplied, and Hisoka knew that the two dark-haired children were of kin to her.

As she slowly drew closer, she could hear them all arguing over something.

"Sarutobi! It's our turn! Pass the ball to us!"

Taro stuck out his tongue, blowing rudely at them and tossing the ball into the air. He grinned toothily, showing off several missing teeth. "_Nu-uh_! The last time you guys had the ball, you wouldn't give it back to me!"

"Technically, it belongs to _us_!" The dark-haired girl cried, stomping a foot in anger. "Ine, tell him to give it back!"

The pudgy girl turned towards Taro, a rebuking tone evident in her voice. "Taro, don't be mean. It isn't _your _ball."

Hisoka's eyes narrowed as she spied the object they were fighting over. It was a shiny, green ball—_her_ shiny green ball that she had just gotten on this very day! With a pout on her face, she toddle-marched over to their group, ignoring their yelps as she tugged her prize from Taro's loosened grip. She hugged the ball to her chest, minutely feeling selfish but convincing herself that it was justified because it was _her_ birthday and _her _present.

Taro didn't seem to have the same feelings, however.

"Hey! Give that back!" He cried, snatching the ball from her arms and throwing off her balance slightly.

She heard the others gasp, with one even blurting out, "You can't do that to _Danzō-sama's _daughter!"

Not one to be brushed off, Hisoka once again grabbed at the ball, futilely attempting to tug away her present, only to be sent flopping to the ground in the face of Taro's superior strength. Again, the children gasped in shock, Taro chortled and Hisoka carefully picked herself up from the ground, pouting down at her dirtied dress before glaring sharply at the brown-haired boy.

_What a brat! _She huffed to herself. _I want my ball but he won't give it to me! He's bigger than me and stronger than me so how can I get my toy back?_

_**...you could use chakra...**_

Her head twitched minutely to the side as the whisper filled her head and, with a crooked grin, she lunged at Taro, hands grasping at the ball.

The next few moments flew by in a flash for her. Channeling chakra to the hands wasn't something that was difficult—at least, not for Hisoka. The burning heat that filled her veins boiled to a point, making her wince as it traveled from her stomach, around her heart, down her arms and into her hands.

She felt Taro tugging and, after a struggle, failing to keep hold of the prize. Heard his squeak of astonishment, his growl of anger as she held the ball over her head, a smile on her face at her triumph. She saw the world around her grow blurry and indistinct as she felt all her energy rapidly leave her body. The ball slipped from her grasp as she wobbled and toppled back, eyes rolling to the back of her head.

...

The last thing she felt was bitter chakra flaring up and firm hands catching her body.

* * *

The moment he felt the expulsion of chakra, he'd dashed out into the backyard, just in time to see Hisoka collapsing back. He was at her side in an instant, catching her and cradling her in his arms. He lifted his head sharply, glaring at the four brats, intent on demanding what happened, however, Torifu beat him to it.

"_Who_ used chakra!?" He boomed out, his normally amiable expression twisted into something fierce. "_Who_!?"

The four children winced, shoulders hunching before they collectively pointed fingers at the small child in his grasp. Torifu's daughter blinked through the tears that were beginning to form, pulling her finger back to clutch at her shirt in anguish.

"T-Taro wouldn't give the b-b-ball back to her so s-she went and g-grabbed it! S-s-she wouldn't let go, like h-her hands were stuck on it!" She wailed out. "Then, T-Taro let go and sh-he just _fell back_!"

He turned his hard glare onto Hiruzen's little _hell spawn_, feeling only slightly better when the boy curled in on himself. He was sure it wasn't only because of him and Torifu—Hiruzen himself had leapt into action and he could feel something akin to irritation, anger and _embarrassment_ emanating from his form. That last emotion made his lips twitch in amusement, despite the current circumstances.

"Taro." The Sarutobi man growled lowly, making the tanned boy lose all color. "Just _wait _until we get home."

"Hisoka? Hisoka!?"

He let out an inaudible sigh as he rose to his feet, turning to meet Chiyome's worried and trembling frame. Biwako was at her side in an instant, quickly but gently placing the whimpering form of her son into Hiruzen's arms. Giving Danzō only a brief glance, she pulled Hisoka into her arms and, with a whispered word to Chiyome, followed the anxious woman into the house.

Frowning deeply, he turned his attention to the small congregation of people that gathered in the doorway of the backyard. He mentally nodded in satisfaction at the few clansmen that had prepared as well and remained hidden in the crowd of civilians. "I ask that you all forgive this..._interruption_ but I will have to ask that you all leave. _Now_."

The effect was immediate. Danzō followed the rabble out to his front door, accepting the heavy pat Torifu gave his shoulder as he and his daughter left last. Closing the door behind the two Akimichi, he turned his blank stare onto Hiruzen, who could only meet his gaze apologetically as he rocked the whining baby in his arms.

"Danzō—"

"Don't."

With that, he turned and padded to where Chiyome, Biwako and Hisoka were—his and Chiyome's bedroom. He stopped in the doorway, absently watching his wife agitatedly rock back and forth as she held the child tightly in her arms.

"...ly chakra exhaustion. She's perfectly fine, Chiyome."

"What?" He demanded, stepping fully into the room. "What did you just say?"

Biwako folded her arms over her chest, narrowing her eyes in his direction. "Hisoka-chan is suffering from a minor chakra exhaustion. Somehow, she must've figured out how to use chakra..." An odd look passed over her face. "Though, I wouldn't know _how_ she managed to achieve that." Biwako waved a hand. "At any rate, her body shut itself down before she could expend what little chakra was in her reserves. As I was telling Chiyome, it's nothing serious—after some rest, she should be fine."

Danzō frowned as he stepped up to Chiyome's side, brushing away tears that had gathered in the corner of her eye. He nodded curtly to Biwako, not even bothering to verbally express his gratitude. The Sarutobi wife merely rolled her eyes before gently combing her fingers through Chiyome's orange locks.

"Don't cry, Chiyome. You're stronger than that." She said gently. "Your baby is _fine._"

"I-I know." She whispered out, nuzzling the top of the snoozing child's head. "I just g-get worried, is all."

Biwako chuckled lightly. "It's only natural when you're a mother. But, if you need me, don't hesitate to come to the hospital and ask for me, all right?"

Chiyome nodded and, after making sure her friend was situated, Biwako gave Danzō a sharp look and a nod. He cocked an eyebrow in response, gesturing her out of the room. He followed behind the woman and watched smugly as she snatched her little brat's ear between her fingers, dragging the boy out into the evening. He saw Hiruzen off with only silence and narrowed eyes.

Sighing softly, he turned around when he felt Chiyome's meager chakra signature approaching. Meeting the woman halfway, he cupped her cheek and thumbed away the moisture that marred her face.

"Stop crying."

She snickered weakly, sadly. "I'm...sorry."

He paused, searching for the words to say before settling on, "There's nothing to worry about."

"I know."

"Then, why are you still crying?"

She laughed, shaking her head as she turned away from him. "I'm going to go put Hisoka to bed and...I think I'll get some rest myself."

He watched his wife and child disappear down the hall before following after them to reach his study. Lightly rubbing his chin, Danzō couldn't help but think that holding the girl a birthday party wasn't a complete waste of time after all and that _maybe _he wouldn't have to worry about passing his legacy onto a failure.

* * *

_"Then, why are you still crying?"_

Chiyome Shimura idly traced her little girl's delicate jaw line as she rested her arm and chin on the crib's railing. For as intelligent and perceptive as her husband was, he could be so _ignorant _at times.

_"Then, why are you still crying?"_

It made her want to laugh. It made her want to cry.

"Because you, this clan and this village...are going to take my baby from me." She whispered brokenly.

* * *

It wasn't until one and a half days later that Hisoka awoke disoriented from her exhaustion-induced slumber to her face half-pressed into her mother's bosom and LFSMM's ever-present buzzing.

She hadn't expected to pass out when using chakra but she supposed it made sense—she was only _one years old_ and it wasn't like she was some kind of chakra powerhouse; Hisoka could sort of sense that her chakra wasn't that much. She could tell that the older she grew, it would be more than her mother's but she knew it wouldn't be anything special.

_Well, practice makes perfect, right?_

Hisoka grinned as she slowly channeled chakra to one of her hands, ignoring the small, sharp pains that action entailed before sticking it to her mother's shirt and tugging, giggling quietly when her hand stuck to the cloth like glue.

A few minutes later, Hisoka was once again sleeping, once again drained of energy.

* * *

She missed the way her mother's eyes cracked open and the melancholy gleam within them.

* * *

_With all her otherworldly memories in one small head, the Girl travels she knows not where._

_So, filled with visions, questions, wonder and excitement is she, that she doesn't see the Hokage Monument she is likely to fall over._

_Hidden in the shadows, a lavender-scented masked man follows her (or watches her for his master.)_

_Will the Fool learn to pay attention to where she's going before she trips over a root?_

* * *

**.**

* * *

**A/N: **_Arcana 0 - The Fool: Complete._

Thank you all for the supportive responses. I thank **maxizaxi** in particular for their interesting and insightful information as well as **Enbi** for the character development suggestion. Please, I encourage you all to leave suggestions and constructive criticism because goodness knows I need it.

The finishing part is from the official _The Fool's Journey_ (just type it into google if you want to read it) story, but written to where it's a sort of parody relating to our MC.

Again, Danzō was a pain to write—trying to balance his canon personality and his behavior if he had a family takes a toll on me. At the same time, it's very fun. I tend to forget that, at this point in time, he's around forty-two and not seventy-something like he is in canon and I like to think he and Hiruzen still have a semi-decent friendship with each other. The nature of Danzō's and Chiyome's relationship will most likely be coming up next, so that'll be fun.

Tell me what you guys think about our MC's feelings towards Danzō. If he had lived long enough in canon, do _you _guys think Danzō would deserve another chance? I'm really curious.

I believe that's it this time. I love you guys _so_ much and reading your responses makes me melt with happiness~!


	4. Arcana I & II - Family Feud

**.A Fool's Journey - Arcana I &amp; II. Magician and High Priestess - Family Feud.**

* * *

She couldn't seem to stop herself.

Using chakra was unlike _anything _she'd ever experienced—well, maybe besides being reincarnated into what was once a fictional world but that went without saying.

In the darkness of her room, only the faint light of her chakra clinging to her hand kept the shadows from swallowing her whole. She wasn't afraid of the dark—maybe just a little _wary _of it—but the dim light was comforting to her, barring the heat that boiled in her body and the twinges of pain she received every time she slowly summoned chakra to her hand.

The reason for why it hurt was up to debate as the knowledge Hisoka knew about chakra was relatively limited, something she looked to rectify once she had a slightly better grasp on reading. Saori-sensei hadn't been able to explain the source of her pain and abnormal sensitivity to chakra; she could only say that it could be narrowed down to a problem in the chakra network and that _hopefully_ she would grow out of it.

For the time being, Hisoka settled on the assumption that this body was reacting negatively to chakra because her subconscious mind most likely perceived it as a foreign, invading entity as chakra was absent in her previous world; the pain could be viewed merely as an attempt to deter her from using the energy and the heightened senses she had could be explained in a similar manner.

Yawning softly, she sat up and brought her glowing hand closer to her face. She giggled quietly at the warmth that emanated from it, finding it mildly soothing but not as soothing as her Root stalker's fragrant signature, funnily enough.

_Speaking of which… I don't even know his name._ Hisoka felt her lips pursing as she pulled herself up and leaned on her crib's bar, letting herself teeter forward precariously. LFSMM was at her side in a millisecond, hands easily plucking her up and laying her back down. Hisoka did her best to hide her flinch of pain as she stuck her hands to the man's wrist, wanting to be closer to his soothing chakra signature for a bit longer—he was always skulking in the shadows, she never had the chance to experience it up close for literally more than half a second.

"Hisoka-hime, please release me." His voice was calm, completely monotonous. "And please abstain from continued use of chakra; the growth of your reserves are slight and prolonged use will result in severe exhaustion."

"Name?" She asked drowsily, only unsticking one of her hands to comfortably flop onto her back. "Name please?"

He grew quiet at that and, from the corner of her eye, she could see his hand twitching and feel his chakra signature jumping in minute uncertainty.

"Hisoka-hime, please release—"

"Name."

"Please relea—"

"Name? Please?" Hisoka knew she was being annoying but persistence seemed to be key when it came to these kind of people.

Instead of answering her like she wanted, he did something else that had her gawking. He took his thumb and index finger, placed them on either side of her wrist and gently squeezed. The stream of chakra she had to her palm was interrupted long enough for LFSMM to lift her hand and place it delicately at her side, leaving her gaping and giving the man ample time to retreat back to his dark corner.

_W-What? What did he do to me?_ She brought her wrist to her face before tentatively channeling chakra to her hand, frowning when the dull, flickering light appeared with only that familiar pain. _H-huh?_

She let out a large yawn, the strain of prolonged chakra usage catching up to her. The orange-haired girl plopped back in her bed, pulled the covers up to her chin and hugged Ho-oh to her chest, too tired to pursue the issue any longer.

_And I didn't even get his name, Ho-oh._ The girl pouted before dropping off to sleep, not bothering to see if the bird had any cryptic words to offer this time around. _I guess there's always tomorrow._

* * *

"She seems to favor using chakra during the night, particularly during the 2200 and 2300 hours."

Danzō grunted softly, tapping his desk as he listened to Hinoe's weekly report. Since the girl's first birthday, it was rather apparent that she had taken a liking to using chakra, albeit in rather rudimentary ways such as sticking her hands to things and creating faint lights—nothing to applaud but acceptable for a one year old with no prior instruction.

He squashed down vague, fuzzy memories of him and Hiruzen doing things similar when they were children, instead letting his mind wonder to why the girl would wait so late to toy with chakra. The most probable answer was that she thought she'd be in trouble—after the incident on her birthday, he had made sure to slowly and clearly explain to the girl _not_ to use chakra unsupervised. He had meant for the girl not to use it unless _he _personally was supervising but he had neglected to say just that. Knowing her, she probably deemed Hinoe enough supervision...or she just didn't care about his orders.

Despite his initial vexation at the blatant refusal to heed his instructions, he couldn't help but find it _amusing_ that she managed to find a loophole in his words and he couldn't quite stop the corner of his lips from twitching.

_Too much like her mother..._ His mind muttered with a mixture of exasperation and another feeling he'd rather not acknowledge. _Chiyome's civilian genes are much too strong for my liking._

"...asked for my name as well."

"What?"

"She asked for my name." He reiterated. "She was persistent but she succumbed to sleep shortly after, allowing me to return to my post."

Again, it wasn't _impressive_ that the girl more or less demanded Hinoe's name... However, Danzō couldn't stop his mind from wandering to that moment when she had said his name for the first time; it wasn't the girl's feats that intrigued him but the _awareness _and _thought_ that the girl had displayed that took him aback.

He had asked her to say his name and she had replied with such a clearness, sureness and with such a sullen inflection that it made alarm bells sound in the depths of his mind. It was like...she _knew_ something about him, something that no one else should be aware of.

Danzō glared at a spot next to Hinoe's head, oblivious to the way the young man abruptly stopped his report, subconsciously intimidated by the dark glare pointed in his direction. "...Danzō-sama? Have I angered you...?"

He waved a hand, eyes still unfocused. "No. Continue."

"…Yes. Hisoka-hime's chakra reserves have grown by a moderate amount..."

Chakra... yes. The girl had managed to channel chakra to her hands all without prior instruction. There had been cases of some being inherently able to use chakra but it wasn't _that_; it was what she had used it _for._

For a toy. It was to get her toy back from Hiruzen's oldest brat.

The girl _knew_ that channeling chakra to the palm of her hands would have an adhesive effect and stick them to the ball, allowing her to take the object away from a bigger and stronger person. She may not have expected passing out less than five seconds after but she had been aware of the situation, was able to formulate a plan in response and execute it using a rather clever—but still relatively unimpressive—application.

"...eech is developing rapidly. She has made no signs of speaking in English, even with Chiyome-san continuing to speak to her in the language."

...And then there was the alleged English that Chiyome had claimed the girl had blurted. He still didn't really believe the woman but that was because _he_ hadn't witnessed it himself. She had Biwako as a witness and, after knowing the Sarutobi woman for several decades, he could confidently say she was not one to lie but the skepticism remained; he needed more proof to go on other than two excitable women that had just previously been gushing over an infant.

What had Chiyome claimed the girl had said...? Ah, yes...

_Hokage_. _Naruto_. _How_, twice. _Why. _

She had called out a title and rank, the word for a ramen topping and maelstrom—two words that were of Japanese origin and, thus, didn't actually count—and a word that could be used as an adverb, a noun, a conjunction, an intensifier or in idiomatic expressions. The last word she exclaimed was also an adverb and noun. The rest of what she said was too difficult for Chiyome try and put together, while she claimed to not have ever heard a couple of the words the girl had spouted.

Did the words have some sort of meaning or context? He doubted he'd ever know; it wasn't like he was fluent in the rather mind-boggling and confusing language and Chiyome's knowledge, while broader than his, wasn't exactly enough to pinpoint whatever it was the child was babbling about. It didn't matter much, though, as the girl hadn't uttered a word of English since then and he doubted she would anytime soon.

Perhaps when she got a little older...

_I'm giving the girl too much credit._ He mentally groused, finally coming out of his thoughts to notice Hinoe had finished his report.

"...ould I do if Hisoka-hime asks for my name again?"

"I give you permission to tell the gir—_Hisoka_—your code name." He said after a moment of allowing his vision to refocus. "Explain to her not to tell anyone of your presence."

_She won't tell. _A voice whispered confidently. _She hasn't told anyone yet._

His eyes narrowed slightly as he rested his chin on laced fingers, watching Hinoe slink back into the shadows. The girl _hadn't_ told her mother of Hinoe's presence yet, despite the numerous chances she had to do so—there had been moments where he'd seen the girl blatantly staring at the Root operative, with both he _and_ Chiyome in the same vicinity, but she still had shown no indications of wanting to reveal the young man's existence.

Any other child would promptly alert their parents of a foreign entity for any number of reasons—ignorance and fright were the most prominent ones.

Hisoka _didn't_, almost as if she _knew_ that Hinoe meant her no harm and knew that her mother wasn't supposed to know of Hinoe.

It was moments like those, where the girl showed signs of that very same uncanny awareness that made a bud of hope sprout in his mind, made him want to believe that he had been given a child whose appearance belied a keen intelligence and talent.

…He wanted to believe that he'd _finally_ be able to have something to hold over Hiruzen's head, in the form of a bubbly, orange-haired one year old girl.

* * *

"Hinoe."

She blinked up at the masked man with bleary vision, scrubbing at the dried drool on the corner of her mouth from her afternoon nap.

Confusion crossed her round features as she pointed a finger at him. "_Hi-no-e_? You?"

"Hinoe." He repeated again in affirmation before he melted into the darkest corner of her room. "You must tell no one else of my identity, Hisoka-hime."

"…'kay." The girl replied absently, drowsily as she wondered if her father had ordered the operative to tell her his name.

_Really, Papa? If I haven't told anyone after this long, odds are I'm not gonna tell anyone _ever_. _She snorted quietly._ That man and his secrets..._

_Well, it's not like I'm not without secrets myself. _She smiled sardonically. _Like father, like daughter, right?_

* * *

Kanji, she decided, was the work of pure, unadulterated _evil _and should be banished to the deepest depths of oblivion.

She puffed her cheeks up in irritation as she stared at the mess of green finger paint before her, the only legible characters being that for the numbers _one_, _two_ and _three_—all of which merely required drawing horizontal _lines_. Her memory was impressive, yes, but Hisoka severely doubted that her brain had enough room to memorize the _thousands_ of kanji needed for reading.

_Why can't everything just be in hiragana? _She groaned, slapping her hands down on her paper and sending finger paint flying onto her dress and onto the floor. _Oh fiddlesticks!_

"What are you doing? Making a mess?"

She yelped involuntarily at the sound of her father's voice despite feeling his bitter chakra approaching. She craned her neck to look up at him as she smiled brightly, wiping her hands off on her paper to clean them but doing nothing more than smearing more on her hands.

Her smile turned sheepish as she looked down at the mess. "Uh-uh, kanji."

"Alone?" He cocked an eyebrow at her excited nod before kneeling down next to her. "You've only written _three_—and the _easiest_ ones at that. Is _this_ the best you can do?"

"Too hard, Papa!" She whined, slapping her hands down again. "Too hard to 'member 'em all!"

His chakra rumbled with annoyance as he gingerly seated himself down next to her. A sharp flick on the back of her neck made Hisoka jolt in surprise and look up at her father inquisitively. He wasn't looking at her, his attention fastened on getting out a clean sheet of paper and pulling a brush out the folds of his top.

"The only reason this is hard is because you are _making_ it hard." His chakra flared up, traveling to his fingers and then into the brush in his hand. "Listen and observe."

"Do not look at kanji and try to memorize them one-by-one, stroke-by-stroke. You _will_ fail and end up as you are now: confused and utterly hopeless." He ignored her pout and noise of indignation. "Learning kanji can be simplified by learning radicals—smaller parts that make up larger, more complex characters. Here."

Hisoka watched with rapt attention as her father wrote out a series of kanji, mentally noting how _pretty_ his handwriting was in comparison to her mother's.

"Look at these."

猫

He tapped the symbol. "This is the kanji for cat. It is made up of three radicals: animal—"

犭

"—grass—"

艹

"—and rice paddy."

田

She giggled. "How these make cat kanji, Papa?"

He flicked her on her neck once more, making her squeak. "That is not what is important. Instead of memorizing each individual kanji, memorize the radicals. Taking out the foundations will make toppling the overall structure much simpler."

She tilted her head, wondering if her father just made some kind of battlefield comparison with learning kanji, but, ultimately, she understood the point he was trying to make. Hell, she could already feel the process of learning kanji becoming a bit simpler; perhaps using mnemonics would help the process a bit more...?

Her stubby finger traced along the characters thoughtfully before she dipped her hand into her jar of finger paint. A cheeky, dimpled grin covered her face as she began to write, speaking aloud as she went.

"_Animal_ in _grass_ next to _rice paddy _is _cat_." She chirped out, triumphant at her sloppy recreation of the character. "...Think I can do it now, Papa! Thank you~!"

"Good." He paused. "Then you shouldn't have any problems memorizing all the one- through three-stoke radicals by the end of this week."

The orange-haired girl blanched, feeling herself about to defy reality and perform an honest-to-goodness _Face Fault_. She pulled back just in time, snapping her gaze up to Danzō's face so she could properly begin to whine, pout and complain about such a task...but something stopped the words from coming out of her mouth.

It was the _gleam_ in his eye and the way his chakra _shook_ so powerfully, like he was provoking her, _daring_ her to complain and whine about the task he'd given her.

"I…"

He cocked an eyebrow. "Do you have any objections?"

But it wasn't a look of deterrence—in fact, it was the complete _opposite_. It was one of encouragement—of challenge—to prove to him that she wasn't just some _ordinary_ child.

She wanted to scoff. As if she hadn't already proven her intelligence and talent; she was one years old—walking, talking (practically _bilingual_ at this point), mastered hiragana and katakana _and_ knew how to use and channel chakra!

Did she already mention all this was at the age of _one_!?

What else did the man want her to prove? What caused him to have such doubt?

_**you're bad at hiding…being a kid it doesn't matter**__**...**__**you're smart use it…why do you keep trying to hide it…**_

The reason she often told herself was because she wanted to be selfish; she wanted to lay around and play with toys and recapture the leisure that was absent in her previous adult life. Perhaps, subconsciously, she wanted to block out the fact that she was in _Naruto_, a once fictional world that had certain dangerous standards and expectations placed on the shoulders of small children.

Yet, she still acknowledged the supernatural elements of the world and was all too eager to embrace them for her own entertainment once she realized of what nature they really were. Even with the knowledge of who her father was and what that possibly meant for her future, Hisoka was unabashedly sloppy, continuing to use her chakra in front of the spy her father had planted to _obviously_ gauge her wit and ability. But she had gotten complacent, sure that because she was _little_, her father would wait despite her practically _flaunting _her smarts right in front of him.

In essence, Hisoka wanted to have her cake and completely _devour_ it, too.

This world didn't work like that, however.

Age seemed to have little to no relevance on what expectations this world placed on an individual's shoulders. Children were practically bred for war and trained out of the womb in this world. What was she trying to achieve by clinging to a childish façade that was crumbling the longer she existed?

Eventually, she'd have to put down the finger paint, the toys, the coddling and take up arms, not only because of who her father was but also because of what she wanted to achieve in this life.

That was the whole reason she even _wanted_ another chance at life, wasn't it?

A smirk that made the young girl look uncannily similar to her father slowly formed as she crossed her little arms. "That's it? I can do one, two, three, four _and_ five!"

His lips twitched at the corners, like he wanted to laugh but he managed to remain stoic in the face of her childish conceit. "Really?"

"Yup!" She jabbed a thumb at her chest. "Hisoka is best! Can do easy stuff like this no problem!"

"We'll see." Was the only thing he said but, for the briefest of seconds, Hisoka was _sure_ she could see something like a smile on her father's face.

* * *

Chiyome stared down at her daughter quietly, examining the girl behind squinted eyes.

"…Hisoka-chan, do you need any help?"

"Nope." The girl replied distractedly before whispering quietly under her breath, "The _fire_ in her _mouth_ was _delayed_ so it _burns_."

"What?"

"Don't bother her, Chiyome." Her husband's voice said from behind her. "She's learning."

Chiyome looked over her shoulder at Danzō before looking back down at her daughter's bent head with furrowed eyebrows. "O-oh, I see."

"I made tea."

Her lips curved down softly. "Genmaicha? You know I don't like that kind very much."

He grunted impatiently. "Hōjicha."

"R-really?" Her eyes opened briefly, showing a glimpse of grey. "For me?"

The dark-haired man sent her a flat look before turning to leave, the silent order to follow him left in his wake. Chiyome gave Hisoka one last look before rising to trail after Danzō, ignoring the way her heart panged at the sight of her daughter learning kanji so diligently.

* * *

Her second birthday was like the first, except she didn't pass out from using chakra.

The adults congregated together once more but Hisoka noticed that they all kept a furtive eye on the children—well, more of an eye than they had before as, if they had actually been paying attention, none of what happened last year would've transpired. At any rate, she wasn't upset about it, merely _miffed_ that the adults were so self-absorbed that they let some _brat_ hold her ball hostage as if he owned it.

Speaking of a certain brat, Hisoka was rather amused to find that, whenever she approached Taro, he would skitter away with his tail between his legs, taking refuge behind the Akimichi girl named Ine.

_Poor little monkey._ She mentally mocked, smirking as she messily stuffed some cake into her mouth. _That's what you get for taking my ball. Fufufufufu..._

A small hand reaching for her cake pulled her from her thoughts and, instinctively, she slapped away the encroaching appendage, narrowing her eyes at the offender. A woeful, teary expression stared back at her and she huffed out a small sigh as she continued shoveling more chocolate cake into her mouth, glaring lightly at the younger boy from the corner of her eye.

Asuma Sarutobi, apparent youngest son of Hiruzen and Biwako Sarutobi.

It was still difficult for Hisoka to acknowledge that she was older than him; images of his future self constantly overlapped with the large-eyed baby in front of her, making a distorted amalgamation of the two persons. Despite that, she could remember vague details about him—he got married to a pretty red-eyed woman, he had a really high bounty over his head, he had a smoking habit and he died in battle.

She sniffed, staring down at him as he once again tried to take some of her cake. _At least you got married_; _I didn't even make it that far._

There was something else about him, too…

Something about him that made her cheeks heat and giddiness and excitement pool in her stomach; there was this _urge _that made her body and finger twitch, like she just wanted to jab it into someone's face while performing some outrageous pose. She tilted her head to the side, cheeks puffing out as she pondered the curious sensations as she stuffed more of her mother's tasty cake into her mouth. Noticing that Asuma had managed to grab some cake in her short moment of inattention and was in the process of putting it in his mouth, her hand once again lashed out instinctively.

"_ORAORAORAORAORA!_" She yelled out as she rapidly and repeatedly smacked Asuma's hand, causing him to drop the stolen cake onto the kitchen floor.

He squeaked in confusion, eyes blinking owlishly at her before he reached out towards the soiled food. Again, she smacked his hand, yelling out her battle cry before she pointed sharply at the whimpering boy. "No! No! No! Bad! No take cake! No eating off floor, Asuma!"

Then, she blinked before shaking her head.

As she used her free hand to push down her outstretched arm, flashes of another animated series flickered in from her subconscious. Ah, that was what Asuma reminded her of; a few aspects of Asuma's character was a homage to a particular main character from another well-known series—her favorite one, if the giddy feeling making her limbs jump meant anything. A faint image of the character's face appeared in her head, overlapping with the two already swirling in her mind, creating a hodgepodge of facial features.

_My perception of this kid is gonna be messed up. _She thought blandly, licking her fingers as she used her free hand to smack away the Sarutobi boy's as it once more reached for _her_ birthday cake. "No cake for Jota— Asuma! I mean, Asuma!"

"_Hisoka_!" Her mother's voice admonished as she crouched down, removing the delicious plate of cake from Hisoka's grasp and placing it out of the girl's range—_next_ to Asuma's grubby little hands. "Why are you yelling at Asuma-chan? And where did you get all this cake? I already gave you a slice before! Who gave you another?"

The young girl blinked up at her mother, trying to find a response before shrugging her shoulders. She very well couldn't tell her mother that she had practically went on an expedition to retrieve the cake from the island counter in their kitchen. _How_ she managed to get the cake slice along with the accompanying plate onto the ground without any casualties—namely in the form of Asuma—was a complete mystery, even to her but she _did_ know it included some pretty impressive and creative chakra usage, if she had to brag.

_Thank goodness none of the adult shinobi came bursting in._

She giggled innocently at her mother's sigh, before her attention went back to Asuma. A pout deeply etched itself on her face as she observed the chocolate icing smeared over his face and the sedated gleam in his eyes. What was once a plate of beautiful, velvety cake was now nothing more than a mess smeared over Asuma's round face and clothes and it made Hisoka send the boy a hard glare.

He merely blinked back in return.

Sensing Biwako's sweet chakra signature before it even made it to the kitchen, Hisoka was not surprised when she heard the cry of dismay from the medic-nin. "Asuma! Look at this mess!" The brown-haired woman let out an exaggerated sigh. "Good thing I was prepared and brought an extra set of clothing for you."

"Hisoka's a mess too." The orange-haired girl watched with wariness at the gleam that appeared in her mother's eyes. "It looks like we'll have to get you into the bath~!"

Biwako's eyes seemed to gleam in the same way as she scooped up her son. "A bath? Asuma seems to need one as well. Would it be too much of a hassle if Hisoka-chan and Asuma _shared_ a bath?"

Alarm entered Hisoka's face as she looked back and forth between the two mothers.

What the hell? Bathe them _together_!? Were they crazy!? It didn't matter if they were only one and two and technically shouldn't have known about male and female genitals and how inappropriate it was for two people to bath together—barring family or what-have-you— without being romantically involved with each other; _Hisoka_ knew and that was all that mattered.

She flailed around and struggled, hoping her mother would get the gist but, with a deceptively strong hold, her mother was able to keep a grasp over her quite easily. Hisoka could only listen on in dismay as the two mothers giggled and barely hid their squeals of excitement.

"Of course I wouldn't mind, Biwako! Why, I was just thinking the same thing! No need for you to go all the way home when Hisoka-chan and Asuma-chan can just share a bath~!" Stars appeared around her mother's head—_genjutsu?—_as she cupped a cheek dreamily, still keeping a firm hold on Hisoka's wiggling and whining form. "You know where the bathroom is, yes? Just let me get Hisoka a change of clothes and the camer— Er, I mean, some _ribbons_ for her hair and I'll be right there."

With another whine and waving arms, she was carried off in spite of her struggles. As they departed for her room, she felt her father's bitter, coffee-flavored chakra as well as Torifu's—the Akimichi who was Ine's father—chakra that reminded her of honey-glazed ham.

When the duo came into view, Hisoka desperately held out a hand towards her father, eyes tearing up as she called out to him, "Papa! Help!"

His eyebrow cocked as he watched her and her mother pass by. Shaking his head in disinterest, he took a sip from his steaming cup. "You're filthy. Take a bath." His face remained passive as he took one more sip. "Don't forget to smile."

Betrayal lanced through her heart as she thrashed around a bit more violently. "N-no!"

"Oh, stop it, Hisoka-chan!" Her mother said, patting her on the head. "You act as if you're dying; you usually _love_ bath time."

_Yeah, when I'm not sharing it with some little kid who stole my cake._ She mentally huffed, crossing her arms together as her mother carried her under one arm. _He's the reason this is even happening._

At that moment, a familiar voice whispered in the depths of her mind, bringing a devilish grin onto her face and goading her into doing what she did next.

Ignoring the sharp pricks of pain that filled her body, she summoned the chakra from her stomach and slowly guided it to her hands before reaching out and latching herself onto the wall next to her. A cheeky grin covered her face as she felt her mother jerk to a stop, followed by a cry of astonishment and then exasperation.

"Hisoka!" Her mother rebuked, shifting her grip so that both of her hands were on the orange-haired girl's waist. "W-what…!? _Are you_ _sticking yourself to the wall_!?"

She snickered in triumph as she felt her mother pulling her, obviously taking care not to injure her fragile baby body. Unfortunately for her mother, the adhesiveness of Hisoka's chakra-covered hands were too much of a match for her—surely the woman would understand Hisoka's plight through such actions and forget about attempting to bathe her and Asuma together.

"_Danzō! Your daughter is sticking herself to the wall so she won't have to get in the tub!_"

But, _gasp_, oh no! Her mother had a trump card in the form of a person that was much bigger, stronger and merciless than she!

Hisoka found herself grimacing when she felt her father's chakra signature flare in irritation and, seconds later, the Shimura leader was towering over her with crossed arms and a severe expression on his face. She grinned sheepishly and a little guiltily as she wilted beneath her father's stare but she refused to release her hold she had on the wall—she knew that once she let go, her dignity would be no more.

"Let go of the wall." He said bluntly.

She pursed her lips. "But Papa—"

"_Now._"

Her lower lip trembled. "Papa—"

"I won't tell you again."

"I don' wanna get in bath with _boy_!" She blurted out. "Not good!"

There was a pregnant pause.

Above her head, she could see her mother and father exchanging a _look_.

"Hisoka-chan—" Her mother started slowly.

"Why don't you want to get in the bath with the b—_Asuma_?" Danzō interrupted.

Her eyes darted around, thinking of a way to explain how she knew about the "birds and the bees" without actually telling him that she _knew_. She _had _to draw the line somewhere when it came to all the things she was willing to reveal that she knew—to expose the fact that she knew about _intercourse_ and_ genitals_ and how they all _fit together_ would be devastating and cause her parents to question her mental capacity, which meant she'd be sent to the fair-haired mind readers—and that _couldn't_ end well for her.

She bit her bottom lip, looking up at her father's waiting form through her eyelashes before she settled on, "Papa not get in tub with Hisoka."

He made a noise that sounded suspiciously similar to a snort. "That's correct."

"Papa is boy." She said simply, knowing the man would understand because he was _Danzō_, for goodness' sake.

Another pregnant pause.

Her mother audibly gaped while her father merely blinked.

"Where did you learn about se—"

"Danzō!" Her mother gasped out, both scandalized and horrified at the same time. "Don't say that word around her! She's only _two_!"

"It'll save us from having to tell her when she's older." He reasoned.

"Are you _crazy_? Do you even _hear_ what you're saying?"

"Hisoka is to become a shinobi. Learning the basic fundamentals of reproduction wou—"

"Hisoka." Her mother's voice rose in order to drown out her father's words. "Let go of the wall."

"Chiyome, don't you interrupt me wh—"

"Let go of the wall! _NOW!_"

The orange-haired let the wall go with no more complaints, acutely aware of the agitation and_ anger_ her mother exuded, the aggravation and _anger _of her father emanated and the overall tension that was beginning to settle between the two of them.

_Good job, Fool._ Her fingers clutched the shoulders of her mother's dress anxiously. _I really am bad at hiding things, aren't I?_

* * *

"Sorry Papa."

"Why?"

"Momma mad at you 'cause of me."

He paused in tucking her in before he picked up Ho-oh and pressed it into her arms. "In time, you'll come to find that your mother is mad at me more often than not for various reasons. You merely hastened the inevitable."

_Do not feel sorry._

Her eyes closed as she felt his presence leaving her side. "…I still feel sorry."

He paused again, chakra buzzing with an emotion she couldn't quite pinpoint before closing the door behind himself. Hisoka let out a soft sigh as she cuddled her stuffed toy, doing her best to allow Hinoe's steady, lavender signature soothe the guilt swirling around in her stomach.

* * *

For a while, her mother did not smile or laugh as often and her father did not eat dinner with them, either. They slept on different sides of the house and, when one stayed in, the other went out.

Using chakra wasn't so fun anymore and creating mnemonics for remembering kanji was no longer as simple as it had been. The mysterious voice that offered cryptic words of advice fell silent. Her mother and father kept their distance, leaving her with only Hinoe and Ho-oh as her only company.

The confidence that filled her only weeks ago seemed to dissipate in the face of her mother and father's silent feud.

She could only feel as if it were her existence that caused the rift.

* * *

"Chiyome."

"…"

"Stop being childish."

"…"

"Your selfishness is disrupting Hisoka's studies."

"…"

"Chiyome, _answer me_."

Her eyes opened, revealing slits of steely grey. "How many miscarriages have I had over the years, Danzō?"

He cocked an eyebrow, tapping a finger on his crossed arms impatiently. "What bearing does this have on our current conversation?"

"Five." She continued as if he hadn't spoken. "One when I was twenty, another when I was twenty-four. The third when I was twenty-nine. The fourth was at thirty and the fifth when I was thirty-four."

"…And?"

"Failure after failure, Hisoka is the _first_." She held up a finger, eyes clouding with tears. "She is my _first _baby to have _survived_, Danzō. I haven't even gotten to enjoy her yet you already want to train her and take her from me!"

"Hisoka becoming a kunoichi is tradition _and_ an honor."

"I don't _care_ about tradition or honor!" She threw her arms up. "Why is it so hard for you—for _everyone_—to understand that I don't want my _baby_ to be thrown on a battlefield to die!? I go to Biwako for kami-knows-what reason! I don't know why I think she'd understand me; she's the Hokage's wife _and_ a medic-nin, for goodness' sake! My other friends look at me weirdly and my _own_ husband won't even put an effort in trying to understand his wife!"

"I see my little tangerine walking, talking, speaking words I've never taught to her in _English_! Witness her passing out from using _chakra," _She spat out the word, "at the age of one! See her memorizing and writing kanji that most children don't begin to learn until four at age _two!_ Day-by-day, week-by-week, year-by-year, I see Hisoka get _further_ and _further _away from me and all I can see is her ending up face down _dead_ in some trench!"

"But that's_ honor_, right? That's where you want your daughter to end up, _right_?" The woman scoffed, eyes falling back shut as she crossed her arms and turned her head away from him. "_Oh_ but that's right… You weren't even interested in Hisoka until you saw she wasn't as _useless_ as you thought she was. _Silly me~_!"

He scrubbed at his forehead, hot anger boiling beneath his skin. "Of course you would have such a simplistic view."

"Why? Because I'm a civilian?"

"_Yes!_" He snapped, eyes narrowing. "Because you are a civilian. You are pampered and _ignorant_ to the structure of shinobi and the sacrifices we make for this village; it is the very same reason why civilians should not have a say in shinobi business during council meetings and—" He paused, eyes glaring down at her. "I don't even know why I'm bothering. Stay angry like you always do before you realize how foolish you are being."

Chiyome stood up as Danzō flickered out of sight, hands clenched into fists at the side of her as she stomped her foot. "Danzō! _Danzō_! Get back here and talk to me! I'm not _finished_!"

After realizing that her husband was indeed not coming back, the Shimura matron let out a harsh sob as she dropped back down, face hidden in her hands as she felt the cold chill of loneliness and isolation freeze her body completely.

* * *

In the darkness of her room, not even the warmth generated from her chakra nightlight could fight off the cold threatening to swallow her whole as she felt her mother's small plume of chakra shiver and vibrate with sadness.

_Don't worry._ She told herself as she clutched Ho-oh tightly. _May we endure for night as joy cometh in the morning._

* * *

"Momma, where Papa?"

Hisoka noticed the way her mother's shoulders tensed, the way she sent a strained smile over her shoulder and the absence of her father's bitter coffee-flavored chakra she had gotten so used to.

"A-ah, Papa's out on a, uh, _mission _right now." She looked back down at the soapy dishes. "He'll be back eventually."

Her brown eyes dropped down to her plate of scrambled eggs. "Is it… Is it _my_ fault, Momma? That Papa's gone?"

"What? No!" The woman wiped her hands on her apron, moving to sit down next to her daughter's high chair. "Anything that happens between your father and me will _never_ be your fault. _Ever_." She smiled gently, stroking down an unruly curl. "It's just sometimes we have…disagreements and we say things and—"

"Is it 'cause of shinobi?" Hisoka interrupted. "'Cause I'm supposed to be a shinobi 'cause Papa's family?"

Her mother's eyebrows furrowed, eyes opening briefly to reveal pretty grey eyes. After a moment, she let out a soft sound that was like a combination of both a sigh and laugh. "It's…_complicated_, my little tangerine." She pressed a kiss to the girl's forehead before rising to her feet. "But…you are much too perceptive and smart for your age. _Too _much."

Suddenly, she clapped her hands together, a bright smile overtaking her face, though, her signature undulated with waves of stress, sadness and anger. "Let's not worry about all that kind of stuff~! It'll be just me and you for a little while so let's have as much fun as possible while Papa's gone~!"

"A-all right, Momma!" She smiled, doing her best to grasp at happiness despite it doing it best to get away from her clutches.

* * *

**.**

* * *

**A/N: **_Arcana I &amp; II - The Magician and High Priestess: Complete._

The themes of the two tarot this chapter is named after are relatively subtle, especially the High Priestess as the thing it represents is somewhat difficult to explain, though, I _can_ say that the Magician and High Priestess are basically two sides of the same coin: action and inaction, conscious and subconscious, masculine and feminine—that kind of thing.

I think I'll explain it now while I'm at it: Ho-oh "speaking" is just representative of Hisoka's innermost thoughts. Actually, Ho-oh could be classified as the High Priestess of this story; she's basically the MC's subconscious mind personified, that voice in the back of your head that gives you advice—basically your intuition. So, as I said before, don't worry about Ho-oh being some important plot device or whatever because she's not.

Yes, I made a blatant reference to _Jojo's Bizarre Adventure _because I'm obsessed with it and I need help. I do believe I read somewhere (the _JJBA_ wikia) that Asuma was a homage to the main protagonist of Part 3 as they have the same voice actor and the whole "Ora!" thing as well as the "Yare, yare." thing. So there's that.

Danzō and his wife get into a fight and Danzō leaves to blow off some steam. Probably messing around in the Root headquarters. Hanging around Hiruzen, who doesn't mind much because he doesn't want to fill out his mountains of paperwork. Cavorting with Orochimaru. Who knows? The next arcana/arc focuses on Chiyome—MC's mother, if you didn't realize for some reason—and will include her relationship with Danzō and how she views certain things. I think Chiyome is my favorite character at the moment; honestly, I think she has more of an "Earth" mentality than Hisoka does for her view on the shinobi structure and values. P.S. Chiyome has the anime _Squinty_ _Eye_ trope.

Then, after that, we can get to the fun ninja learning stuff with "Papa" Danzō :) LOL at him for suggesting to teach a two year old about the "horizontal mamba" to get it out of the way early.

(I _really_ hope he isn't out of character.)

In regards to the kanji "lesson"—and I use that word loosely—I would _not_ expect it to be right whatsoever so please don't follow it for your own personal lessons. I have very minimal knowledge of kanji and how it works so please don't flame me talking about how I was wrong and butchered a language. I'm sorry. I just wanted a father-daughter bonding moment and it just fit with her growth period, okay!?

Next, once again, thank you to **maxizaxi **for your insightful review. I also agree that Danzō is one of the more realistic characters—if not the _only_ one—in the _Naruto_ world. Danzō is more often than not crucified for his role in the story, being a main catalyst for many of the tragedies that transpired and a "bad guy" but his willingness to take up the "dirty jobs" of the shinobi world is indeed necessary to the upkeep of Konoha. _It's a dirty job but someone's gotta do it_, is the quote that sums up Danzō. Also, thank you for pointing out Nagato's age. I had to go to a previous chapter and correct something regarding the Akatsuki and it encouraged me to look up a timeline for the series, which is confusing as all hell, but was indeed needed.

Thank you, **Enbi **for your review as well. I especially appreciate more elaboration on Hisoka's personality and possible learning process. It didn't show up that much but she did indeed steal some cake using her chakra (just don't ask how).

Thank you, **KlonoaDreams**! I'm really glad you like this story~! I love all of yours as well. Danzō indeed would need some sort of miracle to redeem himself but Hisoka would be the one for the job! Or maybe she _isn't_. Maybe despite her good intentions, things won't end up the way she thinks they will. She _is_ the Fool for a reason. Hopefully, I can explain more about the Shimura clan in later chapters because they—along with another clan that will not be revealed at the moment—_confuse_ me with their absence in canon, though, it could be explained with them not being important or something.

And thank you to all my other reviewers as well. Just because I didn't point you out personally doesn't mean I don't appreciate your comments and encouragement. It makes my little heart pitter-patter~

Okay, I think that's enough with the A/N. I'll see you guys next chapter~!

**EDIT: 04/08/2015: A reviewer, The Shameful, pointed out that two of the English words that Hisoka spoke were already Japanese and the last one wasn't really that noteworthy so I went back and edited what it was Hisoka said. I'm embarrassed to say that I hadn't noticed it until someone pointed it out. I'm very sorry if it annoyed some.**


End file.
